Work on seven bridges resumes in Majuli

Jorhat, Nov. 9: Work on seven bridges and a road in Majuli, which began two years back, has resumed after the recent floods. The concrete bridges are expected to be completed by the new year.

All these pucca bridges and roads are being undertaken by the PWD Rural Roads division here, overseen by Majuli Cultural Landscape Management Authority and funded by the state cultural department.

Upper Assam commissioner and the cultural authority CEO Syed Iftikar Hussain said efforts were on to ensure that the bridges and roads, which are under construction now, are structured in keeping with the heritage and culture of the neo-Vaishnavaite monasteries on the island.

In this regard the authority has sought permission from the government to adorn pillars with carvings and small statues.

Ghana Nath, principal of Pitambar Dev College in Majuli and a member of the authority, said while construction of the 1km-long Goalgaon Tinali-Kodoigurighat road has been completed, the improvement and widening of the 7.54km road from Kamalabarighat to Garmur is going on in a piecemeal way, adding that only 40 per cent of the work has been done.

An engineer of the PWD rural roads division said this stretch was being delayed because of the absence of connectivity to carry road materials, unfavourable weather conditions and scarcity of labour.

The BTAD riots had led to the fleeing of a large population of labourers from the island, the engineer added.

Nath said two more projects under the authority were being proposed ó a museum and a conference hall-cum-library.